Las Vegas Medical Marijuana dispensary operator to stand trial, after the Nevada Supreme Court overturned former District Court Judge Donald Mosley’s decision to dismiss his case. The defendant was arrested in 2011 for illegally operating a Las Vegas Medical Marijuana Dispensary. He was charged with a number of felony counts, including, trafficking marijuana and selling marijuana here in Las Vegas.
The defendant ran Sin City-Co-Op, a Las Vegas based medical marijuana dispensary where patrons who had medical marijuana cards issued by the state of Nevada would go to, to procure Medical Marijuana. The patients would provide a “donation” to receive the marijuana, but prosecutors claim that these donations were nothing more than payment for the medical marijuana. Judge Mosley later ruled that Nevada’s medical marijuana law was vague and ruled it unconstitutional, because it allowed patients to possess and use medical marijuana, yet it failed to provide patients with a legal manner to obtain the drug.
Since this case was initiated, the Nevada State legislature had enacted a law that would allow up to 40 Las Vegas Medical Marijuana dispensaries. The medical marijuana dispensaries were supposed to be operation by April of 2014, but since the enactment of this law, the Las Vegas City Council voted to delay accepting medical marijuana dispensary applications for a period of six months. Some commentators are projecting that medical marijuana dispensaries will become a reality in Las Vegas by this summer, but with the local government delays, I would imagine that 2015 is a more likely scenario for these dispensaries to become operational here in the Las Vegas Valley. Lastly, it should be noted, that Federal law still prohibits any use, possession or sale of marijuana, whether or not it is categorized as “medical” marijuana by the state.
-Michael A. Troiano, Esq.